Summary
The state body created in 1986, out of the Tel Malhata initiative, which in Dinero’s account has direct jurisdiction over the daily interests of the Negev Bedouin community and a “monopoly” on planning and development in it (Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin, PDF p.46).
Details
- The Land Authority remains the overarching body overseeing Bedouin concerns; the Bedouin Authority plays a significant role in virtually every aspect of Bedouin life, inside the planned towns and in the Pezurah (Swirski & Hasson 2006:39, as cited, PDF p.46).
- The Authority has been criticized for concentrated power, compared to the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs as a paternalistic “state within a state”; all administrative positions are headed by Jews (Swirski & Hasson 2006:33, 44, as cited, PDF p.46).
- Its Director (Yeshuran, 10 May 2007) confirmed the all-Jewish staffing and defended it, and grounded demolition of unrecognized settlements in rule of law: “To be a modern, planned state, you have to have order” (PDF p.47, 50).
- In 2003 the Israeli Land Authority allocated 4.5 million NIS for the Bedouin Authority, against 25.8 million NIS for “Land protection” (Swirski & Hasson 2006:81, as cited, PDF p.53-54).
- Its planner Moshe (15 February 2007) presents the Abu-Basma settlements’ convertible agricultural lots as the greatest change in planning in recent years, and its planner Moshe Moshe (15 February 2007) describes the post-1995 shift to planning with the Bedouin and claims credit for Segev Shalom’s recent commercial growth; whether the two named planners are the same person is not stated in the text (PDF p.57, 83).
- Whether this body is the same as the Bedouin Development Authority named in The Ongoing Judaisation of the Naqab and the Struggle for Recognising the Indigenous Rights of the Arab Bedouin People is not stated in either source read; the pages are kept separate.
Related pages
Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin, Bedouin Development Authority, Pezurah, Green Patrol